Day 16: Donate clothing

My sixteenth task in the 30 days of kindness bootcamp was to donate clothing.

It goes like this:

I gathered up some gently used clothing that I never wear and packed them into bags, in addition with some jackets my friend Chris gave to me to add to my piles (thanks Chris!!!)

The day of the drop off I called some shelters asking how their donation programs work, because I was told some shelters put the clothing in thrift stores and people have to pay for them. I didn't want that to be the case.

I found a shelter on Vancouver's Downtown Eastside and they told me to arrive at 3 p.m.

This was perfect because it gave me time to go to London Drugs to buy some food and treats that I wanted to donate to the BC SPCA.

I made it to the shelter at 3:05 p.m. and when I walked in it was incredibly busy. The woman sitting at the front counter shouted for someone to come help me with my donations and a volunteer came out of a back room.

She looked at me, looked at my bags, and said "is that stuff brand new?"

"It's gently used, but it's nice stuff, from the Gap, Old Navy, it's not junky," I explained, pretty much stammering. I was completely taken aback.

She looked at me, shrugged her shoulders, scoffed at me, sighed and said "usually this time of year we only take new stuff, but I suppose we'll take it."

At this point I am floored.

She takes me into a back room and says "let me show you what we do with gently used stuff." She opens the door and there are piles and piles and piles of bags. She takes mine, throws them on the mountain of bags and says "like I said, we usually only like to take new stuff this time of year, but thanks anyways."

I think I said "you're welcome" and walked out. I was upset. My hands were shaking, my heart was racing and I was near tears. After a brief phone call to my mother, I decided to go back and ask for my stuff back, explaining I was not confident the donations were going to make it out of that back room.

I walked in, stated my case and the woman at the front desk called for the manager of the shelter.

Next thing I know, I am being taken into a back room with the manager and the volunteer that dealt with me.

The manager was less than pleased and the volunteer apologized, saying she had been having a very bad day and took it out on me. We talked and I told her I understood, that her job must be very challenging and that I appreciate what she must go through on a daily basis.

I was then given a tour of the shelter and the manager explained how things work, especially when it comes to getting clothing donations to their guests.

I thanked her for taking the time to show me around and decided to leave my bags.

I have been debating whether to blog about this or not because I didn't want the focus to be on the initial negative response at the shelter. The focus should be how with a little bit of honest conversation and understanding, two strangers were able to come together and appreciate where the other was coming from.

Things aren't always as they appear on the surface.

I am happy I decided to go back.